ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – For Courtland Sutton to perform like a true WR1, all it took was a rookie quarterback, a second year in Sean Payton’s scheme, and a willingness to put in extra time and effort in practice to find chemistry and alignment on the field .

These are relatively simple ingredients – at least on the surface. The actual work and application of these components is far more complex. But that doesn’t make it any less remarkable.

“One thing I admire about him is that he practices extremely hard every day,” first-year quarterback Bo Nix said of Sutton. “He’s out here practicing like it’s a playoff game or the Super Bowl. He gets every call.

“He hates missing out on rep. He hates having to get in and out. But that’s just him.”

Sutton’s success looks different than some previous quarterbacks. He thrived in 2019 when moonball pitcher Joe Flacco threw deep passes to the sky; His 636 yards during those eight Flacco starts is the second-most productive eight-game stretch of his career, surpassed only by a stretch that includes Flacco’s last six starts and Brandon Allen’s first two in November 2019.

But Sutton seems to be on his way to being at that level again. And over the last five weeks, he’s racked up yards at a pace unprecedented in his career.

467

That’s Sutton’s yardage total over the last five games, giving him the most productive five-game stretch of any Broncos pass-catcher since the departed Demaryius Thomas from Week 4 to Week 9 of the 2015 season, the campaign of the Broncos’ final trip to the season and victory in Super Bowl 50.

It’s a product of the bond between Nix and Sutton. And considering the last time a Broncos receiver averaged 90.0 yards per game over a 5-play run was Peyton Manning, it’s safe to assume that the quarterback dilemma the Broncos found themselves in one reason was that it took so long to get back to that level of individual production.

But now that Nix and Sutton are on the same page…

“I think it’s only going to continue to grow,” Sutton said.

But another receiver playing on Monday is also enjoying one of the best stretches of his career.

379

That’s Jerry Jeudy’s yardage in the last four games since Jameis Winston became Cleveland’s starting quarterback. Only a 4-game stretch with Russell Wilson at quarterback in late 2022 was more productive for Jeudy; he had 385 yards on that run.

Cleveland is experiencing what Denver experienced from time to time with its 2020 first-round pick – moments that lasted several games in which he showed why the Broncos not only selected him with the No. 15 overall pick that year, but did so versus other receivers such as CeeDee Lamb from Dallas and Justin Jefferson from Minnesota.

“When he cuts a dime or does a juke move or something like that, the ball in his hands and stuff like that, it’s really amazing to see,” safety PJ Locke said. “Not many receivers have that type of twitch.”

7

Consecutive games just before bye weeks won by Sean Payton-coached teams. That includes the Broncos’ 24-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last season, which ended Denver’s 16-game losing streak in the series.

During that period — which began in 2016 — NFL teams posted an overall winning percentage of .549 in their pre-bye games.

With a win on Monday night, the Broncos would have a pre-bye record of 7-2 since 2016. That would be the NFL’s second-best record before bye weeks in that period, surpassed only by the Philadelphia Eagles, who are 8-1 are in this scenario.

Additionally, teams led by Payton are 13-3 in his 16 previous seasons as head coach before the bye.